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Critical Reviews™ in Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine

ISSN for PRINT: 0896-2960

Institutional price:	$684.00
Issues per year:	4

Best Paper Award Selection - Editorial Board Site

2007, Volume19

94 pages

DOI: 10.1615/CritRevPhysRehabilMed.v19.i2

Issue price - $190.00

Measuring Functional Status and Health-Related Quality of Life in Patients Participating in an Outpatient Phase II Cardiac Rehabilitation Program

Manoj Mithal
Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, University at Buffalo-State University of New York, Erie County Medical Center, 462 Grider Street, Buffalo, NY 14215

Carl V. Granger
Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, University at Buffalo-State University of New York, Erie County Medical Center, 462 Grider Street, Buffalo, NY 14215

John P. Naughton
Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, University at Buffalo-State University of New York, Erie County Medical Center, 462 Grider Street, Buffalo, NY 14215

Evelyn D. Haberl
VA Western New York Healthcare System, 3495 Bailey Ave., Buffalo, NY 14215

Jennifer D. Jones
VA Western New York Healthcare System, 3495 Bailey Ave., Buffalo, NY 14215

ABSTRACT

The objectives of this study were to review current approaches and instruments used in the measurement of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in outpatient phase II cardiac rehabilitation programs, and to establish the validity of the LIFEware^® Cardiac Assessment Instrument (CAI)* as a measure of generic and disease-specific HRQOL in outpatient phase II cardiac rehabilitation programs. The existing assessments used to measure quality of life (QOL) in cardiac rehabilitation programs are either too disease-specific to serve as effective measures of HRQOL or too generic to reflect on a patient's disease status. The CAI incorporates both disease-specific and generic elements, and is designed to serve as a measure of (1) functional status, (2) generic HRQOL, and (3) disease-specific HRQOL for patients with cardiovascular disease participating in an outpatient phase II cardiac rehabilitation program. For the first objective of the study, a systematic review of literature was performed using key words such as cardiac rehabilitation, health-related quality of life, and quality of life. For validation of the CAI, data from 27 patients enrolled in the VA-WNY Healthcare System Hospital Outpatient Phase II Cardiac Rehabilitation Program were utilized. First, ratings obtained by patients on the physical function measure of the CAI, namely, Body Movement and Control (BMC), were correlated with metabolic equivalent (MET) levels obtained from patients at pre- and post-Graded Exercise Test (GXT). Then, the generic measures were correlated with the overall well-being measures of the Short Form 36 (SF-36). Lastly, the disease-specific measures of the CAI were correlated with the body-specific measures of the SF-36. Medium to high correlations were obtained (r = 0.46 to 0.70) at prerehabilitation and postrehabilitation between the designated measures of the CAI and the comparison measures. This suggests concurrent validity of the CAI as a measure of functional status and generic and disease-specific HRQOL.